The process of converting a physical Win7 to a virtual VMware image contains the following steps:

1. create a VHD image with Disk2VHD.exe (download)
2. convert the image to an VMware-compatible vmdk-image with WinImage (download)
3. convert the vmdk with VMware vCenter Converter
4. edit registry to make sure all needed drivers are loaded at boot time
   1. boot up a Win7 installation disk
   2. hit <shift> + <F10> for a command prompt
   3. start regedit
   4. move to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   5. open <File> → <Load Hive> and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\Config\SYSTEM
   6. expand to „HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE“/„<something>“/„ControlSet001“/„Services“
      1. click on „LSI_SAS“
         1. set „Start“ to „0“
      2. click on „intelide“
         1. set „Start“ to „0“
      3. click on „Atapi“
         1. set „Start“ to „0“
   7. go back to „HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE“/„<something>“
   8. open <file> → <unload Hive>
   9. reboot